题文
It is not unusual for people to speak two or three languages; they’re known as bilinguals or trilinguals. Speakers of more than three languages are known as polyglots. And when we refer to people who speak many languages, perhaps a dozen or more, we use the term hyper-polyglot.The most famous hyper-polyglot was Giuseppe Mezzofanti, a 19th century Italian cardinal, who was said to speak 72 languages. This claim sounds absurd. If you assume each language had 20,000 words, Mezzofanti would have to learn a word a minute, six hours a day, for eleven years—an impossible task. But Mezzofanti was tested by critics, and they were all impressed.
Did Mezzofanti have an extraordinary brain? Or are hyper-polyglots just ordinary people with ordinary brains who manage to do something extraordinary through hard work?
U.S. linguist Stephen Drashen believes that outstanding language learners just work harder at it and then they acquire unusually strong language ability. As an example, he mentions a Hungarian woman who worked as an interpreter during the 20th century. When she was 86, she could speak 16 languages and was still working on learning new languages. She said she learned them mostly on her own, reading fiction or working through dictionaries or textbooks.
Some researchers argue to the contrary. They believe that there is such a thing as a talent for learning languages. In the 1930s, a German scientist examined parts of the preserved brain of a hyper-polyglot named Emil Krebs, who could speak 60 languages fluently. The scientist found that the area of Krebs’s brain called Broca’s area, which is associated with language, looked different from the Broca’s area in the brains of men who speak only one language. However, we still don’t know if Krebs was born with a brain ready to learn dozens of languages or if his brain adapted to the demands he put on it.
Although it is still not clear whether the ability to learn many languages is in born, there’s no doubt that just about all of us can acquire skills in a second, third, or even fourth language by putting our mind to it.
小题1:What does the underlined sentence imply?A．Mezzofanti could remember 360 words a day.B．Mezzofanti had a special way to learn languages.C．Mezzofanti’s achievement was ridiculous.D．Mezzofanti language ability was astonishing.小题2:The Hungarian woman became a hyper-polyglot mainly because of her __. A．good memoryB．hard workC．unique brainD．learning methods小题3:The German scientist’s findings showed that Krebs ___.A．had an unusual brainB．was born with great talentC．had worked hard at languagesD．expected too much of himself小题4:The author seems to agree that ___.A．it is not hard to learn foreign languagesB．hard work plays a part in language learningC．there is no such thing as a talent for languagesD．hyper-polyglots have an inborn talent for language 题型：未知 难度：其他题型
答案
小题1:D
小题2:B
小题3:A
小题4:B
解析
文章通过举了几个会说好几种语言的人，可以看出有的人是非常勤奋，有的人似乎大脑非同寻常，但归根结底努力是分不开的。
小题1:推理题：从划线的句子：我们可以看出Mezzofant 一分钟学一个单词，一天６小时，学11年，这是an impossible task 可知Mezzofant 的语言学习能力是让人惊讶的。选D
小题2:推理题；文章第四段的句子：believes that outstanding language learners just work harder at it and then they acquire unusually strong language ability.可知语言学习是需要努力的，后面举例这个匈牙利女翻译的例子，可知选B
小题3:细节题：从倒数第二段的句子：the scientist found that the area of Krebs’s brain called Broca’s area, which is associated with language, looked different from the Broca’s area in the brains of men who speak only one language.可知Krebs有着不寻常的大脑。选 A
小题4:推理题：从文章的最后一段的句子：there’s no doubt that just about all of us can acquire skills in a second, third, or even fourth language by putting our mind to it. 可知作者认为学习语言需要勤奋。选B。
点评：文章通过举了几个会说好几种语言的人，可以看出有的人是非常勤奋，有的人似乎大脑非同寻常，但归根结底努力是分不开的。本文要求考生理解文章的主旨，通过题目筛选答案，读者应当知道如何去做或按照某种方式传递思考问题。推理判断题的答案不可能在文章中直接找到，因此推理时我们务必要忠于原文，在文章中寻找并确定可推论的依据。
考点
据考高分专家说，试题“It is not unusual fo.....”主要考查你对 [政治经济类阅读 ]考点的理解。政治经济类阅读
政治经济类文章的概念：
要做好这类阅读，平时就要注意了解国内外发生的政治经济大事，掌握一定背景知识，对这类文章的叙述特点及内容安排有一定了解，还要扩展这方面的词汇。阅读这类文章，要抓住文章的核心，即文章整体和各段主要在说什么，也要注意段落之间的逻辑关系。
如何备考政治经济类阅读理解题：
【题型说明】政治经济类阅读文章是高考常选材料之一。该类文章时代气息浓郁，语言鲜活，但熟字新义词、超纲词及专业词语多，长句、难句多。政治类文章大多数是同学们感性趣的内容，读起来倒有似曾相识的感觉，经济类文章读起来就像是雾里看花，文章看完，一头雾水。再加之这类文章的命题侧重于词义猜测、推理判断和文章主旨，同学们对这类题材是望而生畏。
【备考策略】建立心理优势。针对不同体裁的文章，我们要采取相应的阅读方法和技巧。政治类文章多采用记叙文形式，我们可采取“顺读法”，以便抓关键语句，领会文章主旨；而经济类文章则多采用说明文形式，我们则可以采取“逆读法”，先读试题，再从文章中查找有用信息。若遇到的确难读的材料。千万不用着急，因为你觉得难，其他人也一定是同感。在高考前，我们就要有这种心理准备，高考试卷肯定有一、两篇难以阅读的材料。不过，我们平时可以有意识地从报刊杂志上找一些较难的阅读材料来阅读，以培养自己迎难而上的心理素质。
【答题方法】
1、寻找主干：
根据英语中五种基本句型结构，把句子中的主语、谓语、宾语、表语等主要成分找出来，其他成分如定语、状语、补语等则易于理解。找到了句子主干，句子的意思至少明白了一半。
2、剔除从句：
在一个长句中可能会出现若干个从句，在理解时，如果把各个从句剔除出来单独理解，然后把大意拼凑起来，整个长句的意思就会明白六、七分。
3、辨别分句：
一个长句如果是由几个并列、转折、递进、对比关系的分句组成，句中往往有表示这些分句关系的连接词，只要能弄清楚分句和分句之间的逻辑关系，再把各层分句的意思加以连贯，整个长句的句意基本上能跃然脑中。
4、寻找关键词：
如果一个句子看完，一点句意的感觉也没有，下下策就是抓住句中的关键词，通过关键词大体弄懂这个长句的意思。
